Madeline Adkins

Utah Symphony’s percussionists and concertmaster Madeline Adkins among featured musicians for NOVA Chamber Music Series’ American Gamelan concert on May 4

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Percussionists have become a staple in recent NOVA Chamber Music Series seasons and the forthcoming American Gamelan season closer will illuminate the fact that while percussion orchestras might not be commonly found in Western music it is the quintessential practice in many world music cultures.  Two works will drive home the point. One is Lou … Read more

Utah Symphony concert of Bach, Carter, Marsalis, Wagner another example of eclectic, innovative programming

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The most recent Utah Symphony concert once again evidenced an eclectic, compact, innovative approach to programming which, in this instance, delivered the orchestra’s first performances of two works from 1998 and 2011, respectively.  The smart staging logistics made for a quick transition from Elliott Carter’s Double Trio, which the composer wrote just ahead of his … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series’ The Head and The Heart concert closes 41st season on sensational note

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The Head and The Heart concert to close out NOVA Chamber Music Series’ 41st season was a kinetic, galvanizing and sensational barn-burner. The concert was a celebration from the first moments of J. S. Bach’s Chaconne, originally written for solo violin, in an arrangement for cello quartet by Laszlo Varga (1924-2014). Varga, a Hungarian émigré … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series to close exhilarating 2018-19 season with The Head and The Heart concert

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Capping a season of many adventurous thrills, NOVA Chamber Music Series upcoming final concert of 2018-2019, The Head and The Heart, is apt in many ways. For her final concert as music director this season, Madeline Adkins, also Utah Symphony’s concertmaster, has selected four works spanning 250 years, assembled the usual legitimate all-star slate of … Read more

Kapustin concerto Western Hemisphere premiere to highlight NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Parallel Worlds concert

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This past weekend, Portuguese-born pianist Luis Magalhães made the 9,800-mile journey from his South African home to Salt Lake City for the Western Hemisphere premiere of Nikolai Kapustin’s Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra, Opus 105, in the upcoming NOVA Chamber Music Series concert titled Parallel Worlds. The concert (April 28, 3 p.m., Libby … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Reflections concert a fun grand slam of a musical experience

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Reflections, the most recent NOVA Chamber Music Series concert, eloquently conveyed its theme in a cohesive, imaginative way that any artistic director should envy. Throughout the season, Madeline Adkins, NOVA’s music director, has expanded upon the organization’s unique branding for programming concerts with themes that elucidate new dimensions of music appreciation. Adkins, the Utah Symphony … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series set to present R/Evolution: A Millennium of Musical Mavericks

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One of the most popular programming approaches to highlight the string quartet’s extraordinary versatility as a chamber music ensemble is to organize cycles of a particular composer’s output in the genre or to juxtapose a series that emphasize parallels between how two composers developed their musical language for string players. The case is strong for … Read more

Exquisite musicality: opening concerts of Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, NOVA Chamber Music Series

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Two intimate concerts of exquisite musicality were held on the Oct. 12-14 weekend, as part of the opening programs for the 2018-19 seasons of The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation and NOVA Chamber Music Series. The Utah Review has reviews of both programs. THE GINA BACHAUER INTERNATIONAL PIANO FOUNDATION: LUCA BURATTO Pianist Luca Buratto, the … Read more

NOVA Chamber Music Series to open its 41st season with Road to Night

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Madeline Adkins

NOVA Chamber Music Series will launch its 41st season this month with its Road to Night concert, a selection of works spanning the period of 1778-1899 that arise from intimate literary inspirations along with deeply heartfelt musical responses by composers to personal events in their lives. The concert also is a sincere reflection of NOVA’s … Read more

Spring review roundup: Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, NOVA Chamber Music Series, Samba Fogo, PYGmalion Productions

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A busy spring season for many Utah based performing arts company has produced memorable performances. RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY: RETURN In Daniel Charon’s Return, the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company created a new realm of dance theater by imagining the six dancers aboard a starship on a galactic journey, one of the most conventional elements of science fiction … Read more